Case Study: Hubspot vs Clickup Traffic Analysis

Organic traffic plays a crucial role in driving growth for SaaS companies, serving as a key indicator of their content strategy’s effectiveness. In 2024, Google rolled out multiple algorithm updates that reshaped the search landscape, challenging companies to adapt their strategies to maintain visibility and relevance. Two notable players, HubSpot and ClickUp, experienced markedly different outcomes during this period, offering valuable insights into the impact of these changes.

HubSpot, a leader in marketing automation, saw a significant decline in organic search traffic throughout 2024, raising questions about the effectiveness of its content strategy. In contrast, ClickUp, a prominent productivity tool, demonstrated resilience by recovering quickly from minor dips and maintaining steady growth. This case study examines the traffic trends of both companies, their responses to Google’s updates, and the lessons marketers can draw to refine their own organic traffic strategies.

Traffic Trends

Both HubSpot and ClickUp have long been recognized for their strong online presence, but 2024 proved to be a pivotal year for their organic traffic strategies. A detailed analysis reveals contrasting trends that reflect how their respective approaches were impacted by Google’s algorithm updates.

HubSpot’s Traffic Trends

HubSpot began the year with over 10 million monthly organic visits, a testament to its dominance in the marketing automation space. However, following Google’s March 2024 Core Update, traffic began a sharp and consistent decline. By the end of 2024, monthly traffic had dropped to approximately 2.5 million—a staggering 75% decrease over the year. This downward trend highlights a potential misalignment between HubSpot’s content strategy and Google’s evolving priorities.

Pulled from SERanking » Hubspot Traffic

ClickUp’s Traffic Trends

ClickUp’s organic traffic showed a different trajectory. Starting 2024 with steady growth, it peaked mid-year following the March Core Update. While there was a brief dip after the August update, ClickUp quickly recovered and maintained a stable performance through late 2024. This resilience suggests a strong alignment between ClickUp’s content and Google’s emphasis on relevance, quality, and user intent.

Key Takeaways

• HubSpot’s significant traffic decline was driven by losses in keyword rankings and reduced visibility for broad, non-relevant content.

• ClickUp’s traffic growth and stability reflect a focused content strategy aligned with its core offerings and user needs.

Pulled from SERanking » Clickup Traffic

How Google Updates Played a Role

Google’s algorithm updates in 2024 played a central role in shaping the organic performance of both companies. These updates, aimed at improving content quality and aligning search results with user intent, had varying impacts on HubSpot and ClickUp.

March 2024 Core Update

• Impact on HubSpot:

HubSpot’s traffic decline began after this update, which targeted low-quality or irrelevant content. Blog posts like “The 100+ Most Famous Quotes of All Time” and “How to Type the Shrug Emoji,” while popular, were less aligned with HubSpot’s business goals. These pages lost significant rankings, reflecting Google’s reduced tolerance for “out-of-topic” content.

• Impact on ClickUp:

ClickUp saw a rise in traffic during this period, likely benefiting from Google’s prioritization of high-quality content directly aligned with user queries related to productivity and project management.

August 2024 Core Update

• Impact on HubSpot:

This update further compounded HubSpot’s struggles, as it continued to demote content that prioritized SEO-driven tactics over user relevance.

• Impact on ClickUp:

While ClickUp experienced a brief dip, it quickly rebounded. This indicates their content strategy remained aligned with Google’s guidelines, requiring only minor adjustments.

November and December 2024 Updates

• Impact on HubSpot:

The decline in traffic stabilized somewhat after the November update but dropped again in December. These updates consolidated Google’s focus on content quality and relevancy, which further penalized HubSpot’s underperforming pages.

• Impact on ClickUp:

ClickUp’s traffic remained stable, showcasing its strong content alignment and adaptability to algorithmic changes.

Clikcup Keyword Trend

Hubspot Keyword Trend

Key Takeaways

• Google’s updates favored content that demonstrated topical relevance, quality, and alignment with user intent.

• HubSpot’s challenges stemmed from a reliance on broad content, which lacked focus and relevance to its core audience.

• ClickUp’s ability to adapt and maintain resilience highlights the importance of a focused, niche content strategy.

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Content Strategy Analysis >> Hubspot vs Clickup

The stark contrast between HubSpot’s declining traffic and ClickUp’s resilience highlights a fundamental difference in their content strategies. While both companies have long invested in content marketing, their approaches to SEO and content alignment with business goals diverged in ways that became evident after Google’s 2024 updates.

HubSpot’s Content Strategy >> Overreliance on High-Volume, Broad Topics

HubSpot has historically used a high-volume content strategy, producing thousands of blog posts on a wide range of topics. This approach helped them dominate search rankings for years, but Google’s 2024 updates deprioritized content that was loosely related to the company’s core offerings.

Key Issues with HubSpot’s Content

1. Ranking for Out-of-Topic Queries:

• HubSpot’s blog contained posts such as:

• “The 100+ Most Famous Quotes of All Time”

• “How to Type the Shrug Emoji”

• While these posts attracted significant organic traffic, they were not directly tied to HubSpot’s core services (CRM, marketing automation, or sales tools).

• Google’s updates demoted content that ranked well for high-traffic but irrelevant queries, leading to a major decline in organic search visibility.

2. Decreasing Importance of the Blog to HubSpot’s Total Traffic:

• In January 2024, 77% of HubSpot’s organic search traffic came from its blog.

• By December 2024, this dropped to 42%, indicating a major shift in where Google directed traffic.

• This suggests that while HubSpot’s main website (its product and feature pages) retained rankings, the blog suffered significant demotions.

3. Corrective Actions Taken by HubSpot:

• HubSpot responded by pruning content, removing underperforming pages, and consolidating content into more focused resources.

• Some pages were redirected to guides like “Content Audits Guide”, signaling an effort to align with Google’s quality standards.

ClickUp’s Content Strategy >> Focused and Aligned with Core Business

ClickUp followed a more targeted content strategy, emphasizing high-quality, niche-specific topics directly related to its core offering: productivity and project management.

Why ClickUp’s Content Performed Well:

1. Relevance to User Intent:

• ClickUp’s content consistently addressed search queries that aligned with user needs for task management, team collaboration, and workflow automation.

• Example of a well-performing ClickUp guide:

• “The Ultimate Guide to Remote Team Productivity”—a topic that directly ties into ClickUp’s product and its target audience.

2. Avoiding SEO-First Content:

• Unlike HubSpot, ClickUp didn’t chase viral, high-volume keywords that weren’t relevant to its product.

• Instead, it focused on content that converted users into product signups, reinforcing its SEO strength even after Google’s updates.

3. Recovery After the August 2024 Update:

• ClickUp briefly experienced a traffic dip following the August 2024 Core Update, likely due to algorithmic shifts.

• However, the company recovered quickly because its content strategy was already aligned with Google’s evolving focus on topical authority and expertise.

Key Takeaways from Their Content Strategies

• HubSpot’s problems were tied to the overproduction of broadly appealing content that wasn’t directly connected to its core business.

• ClickUp’s success stemmed from a content strategy rooted in product relevance and searcher intent, making it more resilient to algorithm changes.

• Google’s updates reinforced the need for SaaS companies to focus on expertise-driven, highly relevant content rather than chasing high-traffic keywords for their own sake.

Lessons and Insights

The contrasting experiences of HubSpot and ClickUp during Google’s 2024 updates highlight the risks of prioritizing broad, high-traffic keywords over business relevance. HubSpot’s decline underscores the growing importance of aligning content with topical authority, while ClickUp’s stability shows how a focused, intent-driven content strategy can withstand algorithmic changes.

HubSpot’s reliance on high-volume, general-interest blog posts worked well in the past, but Google’s updated ranking systems deprioritized content that lacked direct relevance to the brand’s core business. Pages such as “The 100+ Most Famous Quotes of All Time” and “How to Type the Shrug Emoji” were examples of content that drew significant traffic but failed to connect meaningfully to HubSpot’s product offerings. The result was a steady decline in rankings and a sharp drop in organic traffic, particularly as Google updates placed more weight on expertise-driven content.

Meanwhile, ClickUp’s approach remained centered on productivity, workflow optimization, and project management—topics that aligned naturally with its software solutions. Instead of pursuing general-interest SEO tactics, ClickUp built a content ecosystem that reinforced its authority in its niche. Even when its traffic dipped slightly after the August 2024 Core Update, the recovery was swift because its content already met Google’s evolving standards for quality and relevance.

These case studies reinforce a key shift in SEO strategy: traffic alone is no longer a sufficient goal. Content must not only rank but also serve a clear purpose within a company’s broader business objectives. Sites that chase keyword volume without considering user intent will find themselves vulnerable to future algorithm changes, while those that prioritize expertise and conversion-friendly content will continue to thrive.

Practical Recommendations

For SaaS companies and content teams looking to safeguard their organic search presence, the key lesson from HubSpot’s decline is to audit and refine content regularly. High-traffic pages that don’t contribute to brand authority or conversions should be consolidated or redirected toward more meaningful resources. This process is already underway at HubSpot, where underperforming blog posts have been redirected to guides like “Content Audits Guide.”

A more sustainable approach to SEO involves prioritizing search intent over keyword volume. ClickUp’s ability to maintain stable rankings demonstrates the value of producing in-depth, high-quality content that directly serves user needs. Rather than spreading efforts across a broad range of topics, businesses should focus on building topical clusters that reinforce their expertise in key areas. Internal linking between related pages can further strengthen a site’s authority by signaling clear content relationships to search engines.

Beyond content strategy, monitoring Google algorithm updates closely is essential. The companies that adapt fastest to search trends are the ones that invest in ongoing optimization rather than reactive fixes. HubSpot’s reliance on broad, high-volume keywords left it exposed when Google changed its ranking criteria, whereas ClickUp’s focus on core business topics made it far more resilient.

Refined Content Strategy

Finally, diversification is critical. While organic search remains a powerful driver of traffic, businesses should not depend on a single channel. Email marketing, referral traffic, and direct engagement with audiences through owned content can provide stability even when search rankings fluctuate. In an era where Google continues to refine how it evaluates content, success in SEO is no longer about gaming the system—it’s about aligning with it.

Final Thought

HubSpot’s struggles and ClickUp’s resilience illustrate a clear SEO shift: Google increasingly rewards niche expertise, content alignment, and search intent over broad, traffic-focused strategies. Businesses that adapt to these changes by refining their content strategy and prioritizing user needs will be better positioned for sustainable organic growth.